Signing day a week away; hoops on tap today

COLLEGE STATION — There’s no crying in baseball, and apparently no kicking back in college football, even in the offseason.

A week ago Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman put the wraps on hiring up-and-coming defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter of Air Force, next week Sherman will tie the bow on what should be a Top 15 recruiting class.

Rivals.com currently has A&M ranked 12th, tucked between Tennessee and Stanford.

National signing day is a week from today, and Sherman & Co. have lined up 11 four-star recruits in a class of 24, highlighted by offensive linemen Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews and linebacker Corey Nelson, among plenty of others.

According to Billy Liucci’s Maroon & White Report at TexAgs.com, an ESPN affiliate funded in large part by local real-estate magnate and one-time Minnesota Viking and future College Station mayor Hunter Goodwin (did I forget any?), Nelson visited Oklahoma last weekend, but is still committed to A&M.

Nelson likely would figure into A&M’s immediate plans next season in DeRuyter’s 3-4 defense.

• Long-range bummers

If Texas A&M can start making its 3-pointers, the Aggies men might really be on to something in the Big 12 race.

A&M, which plays at Oklahoma State at 6:30 tonight on ESPN2, has a winning record in Big 12 play at 3-2. And that’s in spite of shooting a league-worst 32.2 percent from the 3-point line (118 of 367). The Cowboys (also 3-2) are one notch above at 32.7 percent, so if recent trends hold true expect a lot of long-range ugliness tonight in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

“It’s frustrating and it’s frustrating for everybody,” A&M coach Mark Turgeon said. “I wish we (could) quit talking about it. We won’t make shots if we have to keep talking about it, and then it weighs more on our players.”

The Aggies were 2 of 23 (8.7 percent) in a four-point victory over Colorado last Saturday — the oh-so-rare dip into the single digits percentage wise. Let’s just say the folks they’ve pulled out of the crowd at Reed Arena to shoot half-court shots have had much better luck of late.

“We all think they’re going in or we wouldn’t be shooting them,” Turgeon said. “I thought of our 23 shots the other day, 21 of them were great looks. Most of them were wide open.

“We’re still shooting a good percentage (44 percent overall), it would just make it a lot easier if we hit some threes.”

Meanwhile the No. 8 A&M women play at No. 14 Baylor starting 7 tonight (no TV). In a marquee matchup of newcomers, A&M’s Danielle Adams will take on Baylor’s Brittney Griner. I will be in Waco for the game and, of course, always look forward to the opinions afterward of Gary Blair, A&M’s most quotable and enjoyable coach.